Public Insight

Some electricity customers in New Hampshire are in for a shock this winter. Numerous utilities across New England have announced electricity rates that are some of the highest in the history of the continental United States. And it’s a problem that’s expected to get worse before it gets better.

For some consumers, this is more real than for others. Don Sage and his wife make due on a bit less than $30,000 a year in social security payments. So he can ill-afford to pay another $40 a month on his electric bills.

As early as next year, college students in New Hampshire teacher preparation programs will be taking a new test. It’s known as the TCAP, and all 14 of the state’s teacher education schools are adopting it voluntarily. While some states have opted to sign on to tests designed elsewhere, the Granite State has blazed its own trail when it comes to creating what has been compared to a bar exam for teachers.

Every student teacher who has graduated from UNH knows about the Portfolio. It was a collection of reams of lesson plans, tests, handouts; the artifacts of teaching.

The state’s mental health system has been under tremendous strain in recent years. Cuts to services in the community, combined with dwindling in-patient beds, mean patients in crisis end up waiting days for treatment--sometimes longer-- inside ill-equipped emergency rooms.

Last summer, two violent attacks inside Manchester’s Elliot Hospital ER brought to light just how unstable the situation has become.

Donald Wyman was one of the victims of those assaults. He worked as a nursing assistant, but six months later, he’s still working toward recovery.

Every chair lift ride up Pats Peak in Henniker looks full on this mild winter day. Skiers and snowboarders are coming down the mountain, one after the other.

Joni Aubin and her colleagues spent much of the day before getting ready for these crowds – and not just on the slopes, either. Though she manages the snow sports office, Aubin helped out in the Tradewinds Café, wrapping up stacks of a Pats Peak specialty: the giant M&M cookie.

Temperatures are set to reach the single digits this week in Durham, home to the main campus of the University of New Hampshire - but at least one house in town will be plenty hot.

Durham town administrator Todd Selig says he won himself a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce in a friendly wager with Hammond, Louisiana mayor Mayson Foster. The wager was over last weekend's football playoff game between the UNH Wildcats and the Southeastern Louisiana University Lions - a game, it should be noted, that was played in a venue called Strawberry Stadium.

This week on All Things Considered we’re kicking off a feature on local food, which we’re calling Foodstuffs.

Local food is growing in New Hampshire – both in its size and its popularity. But it can be difficult to explain just what makes our state's food unique. NHPR's Brady Carlson takes us on a quest to find the answer.

After almost any act of violence, be it a suicide or a mass school shooting, people ask questions, which usually boil down these questions: How could we have prevented this from happening? How can we keep it from happening again?

You need a license to carry a loaded gun either in your car, or concealed on your body, in the state of New Hampshire. To carry a loaded gun out in the open, you don’t need a license at all. That makes New Hampshire one of 28 states that allow so-called “open carry” to just about anyone, no permit or license needed. As part of our series A Loaded Issue, we visited an Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms night at Twins Smoke Shop in Hooksett.

For many rural residents of New Hampshire, owning a gun is not a political statement; it’s a tool, or a form of recreation. Even for some non-gun-owning neighbors, the idea that others have guns for hunting or target shooting is pretty non-controversial. And what’s more, the data available indicate that in New Hampshire that rural gun-culture only seems to be growing.

At most art exhibits, guests aren't supposed to touch the works – though the current exhibit at Discover Portsmouth is the exception to that rule. In fact, some of the pieces won't work unless you touch them.

It's an exhibit called “In Motion,” and the artist, Kim Bernard, joins All Things Considered host Brady Carlson to talk about exploring movement through visual art.

It’s a sad sign of holiday desperation that in many towns, burglaries and thefts spike around the holidays. Two years ago a landmark seasonal statue was stolen from a small New Hampshire town…now a gallery in Massachusetts is trying to find it through the power of art.

We present the second of our candidate forums on business and the economy. We sit down with the candidates for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District: incumbent Republican Charlie Bass and Democratic challenger Ann McLane Kuster. We’ll examine the issues -- from deficits to health care to job growth.

The Business and Industry Association, New Hampshire Public Television, New Hampshire Public Radio and New Hampshire Union Leader are partnering to host a second round of gubernatorial and congressional debates on Sept. 17, 18, and 19 at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics & Political Library at Saint Anselm College at 9:00 am.

Literary journals offer aspiring writers a window into the process of professional publishing and immersion in the community of writers. They are a mainstay of MFA programs, and as well as a number of graduate and post-grad programs in the sciences. We wanted to know more about the creative lives of America’s future practitioners after leafing through Lifelines. That’s Dartmouth Medical School’s arts journal.

Next week the band Level3 will perform at the Lane Memorial Library in Hampton - despite the fact that Level3 is a fictional band.

Confused yet? Not to worry – it’s all part of a new young adult novel called Reunited, in which three young women drive from New England to Texas to see the one-night-only reunion concert of their once-favorite band, Level 3.

It’s summer camp season – these days kids can spend a week on almost any activity they like, from sports and the outdoors to computers and robotics. Since the late 1960’s, kids who love music have been heading to Bennington, Vermont, which is home to a piano camp known as Summer Sonatina.

Although Naturopathic Doctors (NDs) undergo virtually the same training as medical doctors, their services have hitherto not been covered by insurance companies in the state of New Hampshire. Two and a half years ago ND Bert Mathieson, frustrated by what struck him as “discrimination flat out,” got a sponsor for a bill that would change N.H. law. HB351 would require insurers in the state to reimburse naturopathic doctors, who emphasize illness prevention and lifestyle guidance rather than pharmaceutical or surgical procedures in their practice.

If you’re scanning registries for a friend’s baby shower or prepping for your own bouncing new arrival, one thing is clear…baby stuff ain’t cheap. Jamie Page-Deaton is managing editor of US News Best Cars, and she's got a rundown of some pretty unbelievable gadgetry new moms are coveting:

New Hampshire Episcopalians are set to choose a successor to retiring Bishop Gene Robinson, whose election in 2003 as the first openly gay Episcopal bishop created worldwide headlines and controversy between the church and the Anglican Communion.

Lisa Wangsness covers religion for the Boston Globe; she joins All Things Considered host Brady Carlson to look at the three candidates and the state of the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire.